Talented left-hander Darío Sarduy is in vacation in his native Cuba and will soon arrive in the land of the rising sun where he will start his second season in the farm system of the Nippon Professional League’s SoftBank Hawks.
«This year was very positive for me because I managed to improve my throwing mechanics plenty and worked on mastering my command, which was one of my biggest shortcomings. “I started with the farm system and I have been climbing little by little with a lot of sacrifice,” Darío expressed to colleague Dairon Pérez Urbano in an interview.
«Going little by little is very important, especially to avoid injuries, since the change in talent level is very steep at every level in terms of training and the quality of the rivals. Training very hard is essential to achieve the dream of pitching for Softbank’s big league team. In Japan they have taught me discipline and perseverance in every training session,” Sarduy continued in his dialogue.
“My dream came true, which was to join the Cuban team, although I would have liked to contribute more. I was prepared to do well but it didn’t turn out that way, I hope in future international events to have better results and give my best and have better results for Cuba as a whole,” he concluded Sarduy.
The southpaw’s signing with the SoftBank Halcones was for six seasons in 2024 for an initial bonus of $100,000. With this multi-year contract, the hurler from Manicaragua with good performance could wear the colors of the first team sometime this season. Sarduy will start the season with the second team.
Since his arrival in Japan, Sarduy has increased his muscle mass and velocity on his fastball, surpassing more than 90 miles with the pitch. The Hawks’ management has a lot of confidence in the young Cuban and has high expectations for him so that he can become a pitcher of Livan Moinelo’s caliber. Sarduy in the Premier 12 worked 1.1 innings where he allowed four hits, two runs that were earned with a strikeout and walked a batter. He was the starter against South Korean to close the tournament.